VIDEO COPILOT | After Effects Tutorials, Plug-ins and Stock Footage for Post Production Professionals

Element 3D v1.6 Help Home

What's New

Getting Started

Updates

Element 3D v1.6 Element 3D v1.5

Installation and Compatibility

Installing Element 3D Specifications & Requirements Installing VCP model packs Updating Element from a previous version

Importing 3D Objects into Element

Importing 3D Objects Supported 3D Formats Exporting 3D Objects for Element 3D Exporting 3D Objects from C4D Object Transform and Anchor Point Settings Importing Pre-Fractured Geometry 3D Object Troubleshooting Baked Animation Sequences Exporting Animated 3D Sequences

Texturing & Materials

Building Materials in Element 3D Material Texture Slots Environment Textures (reflection map) Texture Channel Pop-up Material Presets Supported Image Formats Surface & UV Mapping Animated Video Textures Normal Bump Map Creation Minimizing Texture Artifacts Pro Shaders Advanced Material Options Opacity Maps Auto Map Size Limit

Animating 3D Objects

3D Object Groups Particle Replicator Particle Look Baked Animation Options Multi-Object Mode Adjusting the Anchor Point Group Utilities & Null Objects World Transform Animation Engine

Extruding 3D Text & Mask Shapes

Extruding Text Tessellation Options Bevel Options Use Layer as UV Bevel Presets

User Interface (Scene Setup)

Panel Descriptions, Preview, Browser, etc. Adjusting UI Panels Saving Presets Preferences Hotkeys Selecting Atom particle vs Replicator Array Changing the Environment map

Compositing Element 3D

Using Depth Compositing World Position Matte Using a Mask with an Element Layer Custom Layer Maps Using Matte Shadow plane Element 3D with 3D Camera Trackers Element 3D & Lens Flare Obscuration Custom Environment maps

Camera & Lighting

Camera Setup Lighting Controls

Render Settings

Environment Lighting Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) Fog Motion Blur Depth of Field Glow Camera Cutoff Tips for Large Resolution Comps Render Order & Opacity Maps Optimizing Render Settings & Performance

Sharing & Transferring Projects

Transferring Element 3D Projects and Assets Relinking missing files

Troubleshooting

Licensing Problems Model Browser Empty Plug-In Not Opening Render Problems Installer Errors Unable To Find Solution?

FAQ

Home > Render Settings > Ambient Occlusion (SSAO)

Ambient Occlusion (SSAO)

Ambient Occlusion is used to simulate soft shading without casting shadows. Controlling the radius and intensity will help you achieve a specific look, but there are many advanced settings for refining the shading.

AO MULTISAMPLING NOTE:

AO Multisampling requires a Recommended supported graphics card. Please look at our supported GPU list here.

PARAMETERS

Enable

Turns on/off Ambient Occlusion by checkbox.

Color

Stylize the color of the Ambient Occlusion with the popup color box or by using the color picker.

Intensity

Increase or decrease the overall amount intensity of Ambient Occlusion on your model

Samples

Controls how many samples are calculated per pixel.

Radius

Controls the search distance to calculate the shading and makes the shading tighter or broader.

Gamma

Controls the overall brightness of the Ambient Occlusion.

Depth Influence

The ambient occlusion works in screen space, but the depth influence varies the shading radius so that objects far away that get smaller do not get lost.

Fog Influence

This controls how intense the ambient occlusion is when fog is enabled.

Illumination Influences

This controls how much the ambient occlusion affects illuminated materials.

Adaptive Blur

The adaptive blur settings allow you to smooth out the samples based on the direction of polygons in order to keep the shading consistent.

Metropolitan Templates
• Overview of the Metropolitian template project
• Learn how to manage the render modes in Element 1.5
• Learn how smooth out jagged edges

WATCH NOW!

Advanced Options

FXAA AO: On or Off
Multisampling: Increase quality of AO, helps with jagged edges.
Cut-off: Limit render radius of AO.
Matte Intensity: Control the edge of the AO

TIPS FOR EDGE FLICKERING WITH AO

To reduce flickering when AO is on, select Multisampling under the Ambient Occlusions advanced settings. This will render the AO pass large and resample it down to frame size, allowing more detail to be smooth. You can also adjust the adaptive blur settings to fine tune your AO.